Zucchini Fritters

By the end of summer, we're looking for any and all ways to use up our summer zucchini, from baked zucchini fries to zucchini bread. Enter these crispy zucchini fritters, which are packed with fresh zucchini flavor while delivering a mouthwatering crunch—and paired with our flavor-packed dipping sauce, you won't want to share a bite. Here's everything you need to know about making and serving Zucchini Fritters.

How Do You Keep Zucchini Fritters Crispy?

The perfect zucchini fritter must be dry enough on the outside to fry up crispy but still light and moist on the inside.

To achieve this balance, we first make sure to extract as much liquid from the zucchini as possible, as too much water will yield soggy, heavy fritters. Then, we minimize the binders in our mixture, using just enough flour and egg to hold the fritters together but not so much that they become dense and lacking in zucchini flavor.

Finally, we keep the frying temperature at medium, ensuring that the inside of the fritters will be fully cooked by the time the outside achieves that beautiful golden-brown finish.

How To Make Zucchini Fritters

Zucchini fritters are quite easy to make, and once you get the hang of it, you'll routinely want to serve up a platter as a side dish or main dish. Here's a recap of how zucchini fritters are made, but the full recipe is below:

• Step 1. Prepare the zucchini: Grate the zucchini and place it in a colander. Salt the grated zucchini to draw out excess liquid, and let it drain—this is step one of extracting the water.
• Step 2. Squeeze the zucchini: Before mixing the zucchini with the other ingredients, transfer it to a cheesecloth or clean kitchen towel, and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. In all, you should end up with about 12 ounces of zucchini juice. If you're short of that by more than an ounce, keep squeezing.
• Step 3. Make the dipping sauce: While the grated zucchini drains, stir together all the dipping sauce ingredients, and set it aside. While this might seem like a fussy dipping sauce for such a humble dish, the sauce it what sets good fritters apart from great. Plus, you can have fun and experiment with the sauce if you're in the mood for a little mixology fun.
• Step 4. Make fritters: Next, combine the drained zucchini with the other fritter ingredients. We like to stir them using a fork so as not to smash the delicate zucchini to a paste, which would change the texture of the finished fritters.
• Step 5. Fry fritters: Once everything is combined, it's time to fry: Heat the oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, drop 2-tbsp. balls of zucchini mixture into the pan and flatten them with a spatula—this prevents any excessive handling, which can also make the fritters dense and heavy. Fry until golden brown on each side, then cool on a paper towel-lined plate.

How To Serve Zucchini Fritters

There are numerous ways you can serve zucchini fritters. Top each one with a dollop of dipping sauce or sour cream, and they make a dreamy passed hors d'oeuvres.

Piled high on a platter, they make a great appetizer, side dish, or even main dish for a light meal. They would also be delicious as the base for Eggs Benedict.

In place of the tasty dipping sauce below, you can also serve the zucchini fritters with barbecue sauce or garlic-chive sauce.

How To Store Zucchini Fritters

If you're making your fritters ahead of time or have a few left over, you can refrigerate them, separated by parchment paper for a few days. You can also freeze them the same way. To serve, defrost at room temperature then reheat on the stove until warm.

Editorial contributions by Alyssa Sybertz.